My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 154 Stripping the Dog

"Woo...Woo..."

The hunters from Kinmen Village were also alerted and came out of the cave. The dozen or so hunting dogs they brought ran out of the cave, but they didn't bark loudly. Instead, they growled in low voices into the forest, their eyes extremely fierce.

The dogs on Chen Ling's side were no exception.

Led by Heiwa and Xiaojin, the pack of dogs bared their teeth, bristled, and slowly crouched down, growling softly as they approached the woods, ready to attack at any moment.

Meanwhile, pairs of green eyes in the woods kept approaching, seemingly unafraid of the pack of dogs. As they drew closer to the cave, they would occasionally breathe heavily and make low, short, and rapid "woof, woof" sounds, like a pack of unopened puppies.

It looked very eerie at night.

"Hmm? Judging from that sound, it's not a wolf?"

"What it is?!"

Everyone was startled and became even more wary.

Chen Ling had already clearly seen what the group of things in the forest looked like.

They are not wolves.

Instead, they were a group of creatures that resembled wolves but were not quite wolves. Their heads were more pointed than wolves', and they looked three or four parts like foxes. They had long, dark red fur all over their bodies, and their tails were very long. There were more than twenty of them, and they were constantly twitching their noses as they approached.

To Chen Ling's surprise, he didn't see the same fierce glint in the eyes of these strange creatures, the kind of glint a wolf pack would show when hunting...

Just then, Liu Guangli, who was not far away, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Lixian, Fugui, don't be afraid. This thing isn't a wolf; it's a dog."

"We outnumber them, have more guns, and more hunting dogs. We'll just drive them away."

As he said this, he called the hunting dogs back, and then, with the four men behind him, he raised his guns and fired at the group of 'dog-snatchers' as he walked into the woods.

boom!Boom!

Seeing this, Chen Ling and his men did not lag behind and raised their guns to start firing.

They brought seven hunting rifles, and there were five in Kinmen Village, making a total of twelve. This was quite a force to be reckoned with. When the group of 'dog-eaters' saw people approaching, the first few leaped up, more than a meter high, and pounced on them. But then the guns fired, and they let out a series of shrill screams, fell to the ground with a thud, rolled around once, and then whimpered and tucked their tails between their legs as they fled into the depths of the dense forest.

"Is this what the old folks call 'dog-snatching'? Aren't they supposed to be fiercer than wolves? How come they were chased away so easily?"

Chen Ling hadn't even been able to fire a few more shots when the dog-snatching group vanished without a trace, which he found unbelievable.

There weren't more wolves than these dog-snatchers last time, and even though they were badly beaten by the hunting rifles and were scared, they still lingered for a while.

Liu Guangli nodded upon hearing this: "This thing is indeed fiercer than a wolf, but it is extremely clever, cunning, and slippery. Once it realizes that it cannot defeat the prey, no matter how much prey is placed in front of it, it will immediately run far away."

"You haven't been to the mountains enough, kid..."

Wang Lixian also said, "If you want to go into the mountains alone in the future, you must be very careful about this. Even if you bring a dog, you still have to be careful. Dogs are much more ruthless than wolves. If you encounter a dog alone in the mountains, you have to be on your guard. Generally speaking, it will deliberately let you see it so that you won't look anywhere else. In fact, at this time, there are at least two or three other dogs hiding behind you or in other places..."

"These things are ruthless. If they find out you're easy to bully, you'll never get rid of them."

"They run fast and jump high. Trees that are two or three meters tall and ditches that are four or five meters wide are no problem for them."

“Once a single person is targeted by them, they basically cannot leave the mountains.”

“When there was a famine before, when my father and his men went into the mountains, more than half of them would be gone when they came out. Many of them had been eaten by dogs.”

"Back then, people would grab anything they saw and eat it all, so they ended up getting separated from each other, unlike us who stay together. Once they got separated, they were more likely to be targeted by dog ​​catchers..."

After Wang Lixian finished speaking, Chen Ling was fine, but the other young people were all terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

You look at me, I look at you.

Just imagining encountering a dog snatcher while hiking in the mountains makes my legs weak and tremble.

"But...but they look like dogs to me, how can they climb trees?"

"Yeah, they can definitely climb trees. That's why they say these things are better than wolves. They can climb mountains, burrow through forests, cross rivers, and climb small trees. They're incredibly agile..."

"Among these jackals and tigers, this dog is a jackal, and he's the first one here. Don't you think he's formidable?"

The young men were stunned and speechless for a long time.

Jackals, also known as jackals, are actually jackals. Jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards are listed first not because they are more dangerous than the other two, but because these two are more common in areas with human activity and pose a greater threat to humans.

As for why it's called a "dog-peeling monster," it's because this creature is insidious and cunning, and likes to attack its prey's anus.

In the past, when they went to attack cattle grazing outside the village, one or two of them would harass the cattle from the front, while the other jackals would scratch the cattle from behind with their claws. Once the cattle felt itchy, they would raise their tails and immediately jump onto the cattle's back, attacking the cattle's anus with their teeth and claws.

Enemy attacking from all three directions like this, even if a bull is furious, it will eventually have its internal organs ripped out and die a humiliating death.

That's why people call it "dog-peeling dog".

Chen Ling had heard many stories about catching dogs, but this was the first time he had ever seen one. In fact, jackals are becoming increasingly rare, and now they can only be found in the deep mountains. They basically don't go near human villages like they used to.

The jackals they have here belong to the Qinling jackal species, and there is also a Sichuan jackal species. These are two major jackal populations in China.

They were once extinct.

"Then, when we go into the mountains, we'll bring more dogs, like this time, more than twenty of them. Will we be able to handle them?"

The young people were terrified and pressed for more information.

Chen Ling could answer them without Liu Guangli and Wang Lixian even having to speak.

"We have too few people and too few guns. Bringing more dogs won't help. Our dogs are honest and can't outmaneuver them."

"Unless you encounter two or three dog-snatchers, but given their cunning, if they see you have a lot of dogs, two or three won't even show themselves."

The habits of jackals are actually similar to those of African hyenas.

Their very blood runs with treachery and cunning.

Once they've set their sights on their prey, they'll use every trick in the book—ambush, harassment, encirclement, and sneak attacks—and ordinary hunting dogs simply can't outmaneuver them...

“Your Uncle Fugui is right. A single dog is not scary, but if a dog comes in a pack, even if there are ten or so, unless they encounter hunters like us with many people and guns, nothing in the mountains will dare to mess with them. Even wolves will go around them.”

Wang Lixian agreed.

"Alright, Li Xian, stop scaring the kids. You can scare them to death. In the future, when you're running in the mountains, just avoid going deep into the old forest unless absolutely necessary."

Liu Guangli packed up his gun, whistled to call the dogs back, and said, "Go back to sleep and get some rest. If we're lucky, we might find some meat after dawn."

"Huh? Picking up meat? What does that mean?"

The young men were completely bewildered.

Wang Lixian said, "The dog-like creatures came here by smelling the blood of our prey. Now that we've chased them away, they'll definitely go somewhere else to find food. They like to eat the heart, lungs, and intestines of wild animals. After emptying the cavity, they usually don't want the remaining meat."

"If we follow the footprints, we might actually find some meat if we're lucky."

"This……"

"Can this still happen?"

"Haha, you've seen something amazing, haven't you? Alright, go to sleep now. Once you've chased the dog away, it won't come back. Have a good night's sleep, and get up early to collect the meat when it's light."

……

The night passed peacefully.

When I woke up early in the morning, the golden sun had already climbed to the top of the mountain.

"Uncle Lixian, I didn't expect that the dog-eater really didn't come back? It's been so peaceful in the middle of the night..."

"Yeah, after the dog-eater was chased away, it stopped coming. It just comes to test the waters, and once it knows it can't beat someone, it won't bother them anymore. That's how they are." "Come on, the weather's cleared up. Let's see if we can find any wild animal meat to collect?"

"Let's go, let's go pick up some meat."

Everyone immediately perked up.

We ate quite a bit yesterday, so we weren't hungry this morning. We packed our things and, with Liu Guangli and Wang Lixian leading the way, followed the jackal's trail.

Not long after.

The group then descended from Mopan Ridge.

The jackal's tracks became increasingly faint until they finally disappeared completely.

"Damn it, that's strange, where did they go?"

Liu Guangli muttered to himself, his face dark with anger.

They then sent the hunting dogs to sniff around, but they found nothing.

"Even a dog couldn't smell it, it might have jumped into the river, that would be hard to catch..."

"Uncle Guangli, no need to rush."

Wang Lixian smiled at him, then nodded to Chen Ling, "Fugui, quickly let Uncle Guangli see the abilities of our village's Dog King."

"Haha, what dog king or whatever..."

Chen Ling laughed along, whistled, and led Heiwa and Xiaojin to sniff the jackal's footprints.

Sure enough, in the short time it took for the people around to speak, the two dogs immediately locked onto the scent.

He jogged towards the northwest of Mopanling.

"So you've found a slut already?"

Liu Guangli blinked rapidly, somewhat incredulous.

"Finding a slut" is also slang for hunting in the mountains. It means that when a hunting dog smells the scent of its prey and can chase after it all the way, it is said to have found a slut.

Training and taming hunting dogs.

It usually starts with finding a flirtatious person.

The hunting dogs in Kinmen Village are trained from a young age to find prey, and they have often caused damage to other people's chickens and ducks, but when they go into the mountains to find prey, they are truly formidable.

Liu Guangli truly didn't believe it; the hunting dogs raised in their village were no match for these untrained dogs.

An old hunter like him is very stubborn.

They place more trust in their intuition and experience.

"Uncle Guangli, if you don't believe me, come and see for yourself."

Chen Dazhi said with a smile, then turned around and followed Chen Ling with the dog.

"Fine, let's go! Let's see if this dog is really Tiger Head Yellow..."

The group followed Chen Ling's two dogs for a while, and sure enough, they came to a valley. After going around the valley, there was a steep slope. After passing the steep slope and going through a large bamboo forest, there was a claw-shaped mountain range called Eagle Claw Ridge.

Once we got here, we walked up the ridge for a short distance.

Sure enough, traces of jackals were found on this sunny hillside. Jackal footprints are very similar to dog paws, but since they live in the mountains, their running style is different, and their stride is shorter than that of dogs.

"Goodness, there really is a smell of urine here, and there are dogs being stripped of their fur..."

Liu Guangli bent down and picked up a few dark red animal hairs from the dead bark of a tree, showing them to everyone.

Then, with a look of great amazement, he looked at the two big dogs next to Chen Ling: "What amazing dogs! They can find the slut from so far away. With that ability, they are already more capable than Tiger Head Yellow."

"I believe it now, I believe it now..."

"I really don't know how you raised this dog."

Upon hearing this, the people of Chenwangzhuang burst into laughter.

They all felt honored to be a part of it.

Not only that, but they all wanted to pet the two dogs.

When Heiwa and Xiaojin heard the praise, they were quite proud, but they wouldn't let just anyone touch them. They turned around and dodged, then ran to a nearby tree and peed with their legs up.

"Haha, this dog is not only smart, but also quite domineering. It even covered up the smell of the dog's pee..."

Upon seeing them, Liu Guangli immediately smiled, growing to like the two dogs more and more.

They then followed the two dogs up the hillside for about a hundred meters, where they saw another patch of grass that had been trampled and ripped apart.

The pack of dogs ran over, sniffing the scent back and forth, barking loudly.

"Offer a sacrifice?"

Liu Guangli looked back.

Wang Lixian nodded, squatted down and examined the tracks carefully: "These were left by wild boars. Judging from the footprints, they went up the mountain and haven't been gone long. Judging from the footprints, I estimate there were three wild boars: one male and two females. The male probably weighed around 300 jin (150 catties), and the two females were about the same size, around 100 jin (50 kg)..."

"Yeah, just like I thought. Let's go, let's follow them. Even if we don't find the leftover meat from the dog-eat-dog, it won't be a wasted trip if we kill these three wild boars."

Liu Guangli clapped his hands, stood up, and looked pleased.

Chen Ling listened and learned from the side, waiting for the opportunity to go into the mountains himself so that he could use it.

As for encountering wolf packs and jackal packs alone, he was not afraid. Physical contact with them would draw them into his cave, and once inside, they would be at his mercy.
Besides, he's not stupid; he wouldn't go into the mountains empty-handed.

Perhaps because he knew Chen Ling's father, Liu Guangli was also very close to him: "Fugui, follow us closely and learn carefully. With such two good big dogs, you should come to the mountains more often. Once you get used to them, running in the mountains will be as easy as eating and drinking for you..."

"Uncle, I've noted it all down."

"Just write it down. When we leave the mountain, I'll give you the recipe for the strychnine ointment. You won't be afraid of those sly dogs. Just add two more ingredients, light a fire, and set two traps. If they dare to come forward, I'll poison them and give them a good thrashing. Hahaha..."

Laughing and chatting, the group walked along the ridge to the place where the three claws of Eagle Claw Ridge converged. Liu Guangli called Chen Ling over and asked him to identify the traces of wild animals on the trees.

Chen Ling stepped forward and examined it closely. It was a thick pine tree with damaged and peeling bark in many places, emitting a strong pine scent. There were many traces and hairs left by wild animals.

"Uncle Guangli, these are scratches from a wild boar."

"Scratching? You educated people know how to use words. But you're right, this is where wild boars scratch their itch. Getting this far means we're not far from it."

Liu Guangli scratched his forehead, then pointed to a spot nearby and said, "Following where I'm pointing, see? This is it. No matter which animal trail the wild animals take back to the mountains, they all eventually return to their dens via this path..."

Then he showed Chen Ling the north and south sides of Eagle Claw Ridge. On the sunny southern slope, there was a grassy slope, at the end of which was a forest. Beyond the forest, to the east and west, were cliffs. Wild animals definitely couldn't go that way...

Therefore, it must be in the shady area on the north side.

Chen Ling's two dogs also confirmed this statement.

At the animal trail that Liu Guangli had previously pointed out, the ridge forks at this point, winding around to the shady slope. Not only are there many traces left by wild animals, but according to the hoof prints, the prey was also relatively large.

As usual, Heiwa and Xiaojin led the pack of dogs in front, with the others following behind. They circled around to the other side of the hillside, and before long, the sound of barking dogs could be heard.

Liu Guangli and Wang Lixian exchanged a glance, then stepped forward to take a look: "Hahaha, we finally found it."

"Fugui, come quick! Your dog has done a great job this time."

(End of this chapter)